24 Riparia. 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Eiparia. 



In the winter of 1875 we received from M. Fabre de 

 Saint Clement, in France, an order for several hundred 

 thousand long cuttings, mostly of the "Taylor, "which 

 variety he had recognized as the best grafting stock 

 among those with which he had experimented. In 

 view of the impossibility to furnish more than 100,000 

 Taylor cuttings (as this variety is, on account of its de- 

 ficient productiveness, but little cultivated), our G. E. 

 Meissner proposed to M. Fabre (as also to MM. Blou- 

 quier & fils & Leenhardt, and others) to send him wild 

 Riparia or Cordifolia cuttings, which bear the greatest 

 resemblance to the Taylor, one of its cultivated varie- 

 ties, and which, we had every reason to believe, would 

 prove equally satisfactory, if not more so, as a Phyllox- 

 era-resisting grafting stock, for the reconstruction of 

 their devastated vineyards. Fabre consented, and the 

 success was beyond our most sanguine expectations. In 

 October, 1877, Fabre first published the result in the 

 "Journal d' Agriculture," and since that time this spe- 

 cies was more and more recognized as the great reme- 

 dy for the Phylloxera-destroyed vineyards of France. 

 It was then called Riparia Fabre.in France, but might 

 more properly have been called Riparia Meissner. 



Very large quantities were then ordered from us, 

 and we had to look about for them far and near ; nor 

 was it an easy matter to avoid the admixture of Cor- 

 difolia, Cinerea, .^Estivalis, and other wild grapes, which 

 would not answer. 



The careful, observing French vintners to whom 

 these Riparias were so very valuable for their vigorous, 

 rapid development in almost every soil, their great 

 adaptability to rooting and grafting, and their almost 

 perfect immunity from the Phylloxera, soon recog- 

 nized that the so-called " Riparia or Cordifolia " em- 

 braced quite a group of somewhat deviating forms, of 

 larger and smaller foliage, more or less hairy, more or 

 less dark in color of wood, &c., some making stouter 

 canes than others differences resulting, very natural- 

 ly, from the various soils and localities from which they 

 were derived, and also from their frequently being 

 mixed in the same locality ; they found, besides, that 

 some cuttings (Cordifolia) would fail to root, though 

 they arrived and were planted in the best condition. 

 This, naturally, led to the study of their botanic cha- 

 racter, now so fully established that we can at sight 

 recognize and distinguish the true Riparia from Cor- 

 difolia; aye, in the mere cutting, in winter, as well 

 as in the young plant and in the seed. 



Besides these valuable characteristics, given by Dr. 

 Engelmann, we have discovered some additional indi- 

 cations which will aid the non-botanist in distinguish- 

 ing them. On the young shoots of Cordifolia the very 

 small terminal leaves open as soon as formed (the same 

 as in .iEstivalis) ; those of the Riparia, on the contrary, 

 remain folded for some days after they are formed 

 and become larger, then expand, but only gradually. 

 This is shown in our table of grape leaves (Figs. 40 to 

 43), which however do not show the more heart-shaped, 

 roundish form of the Cordijolia ieo/when fully grown, 

 nor the form of the fully developed Riparia leaf, in 

 which the sinus of the leaf-stalk is more widely open 

 (truncated), often broad. Another very characteristic 

 sign of Riparia is found in the shreddy character of 

 the bark, which is underlaid by filaments resembling 

 coarse yellow threads. We find a similar characteristic 

 only in the Rupestris ; but its filaments or threads are 



finer and not as strong as those of the Riparia. The 

 bark of these two species will be found to peal off in 

 shreds, whilst the bark of the Cordifolia and others- 

 will peal off in flakes. 



We are just in receipt (July, 1883) of the first num- 

 ber of the "A mpelographie Americaine." an Album of 

 American Grapes, now being published in France 

 price 75 francs by Em. Isard, which will contain from 

 80 to 90 Plates (phototypes) and descriptive text by' 

 Gustave Foex and Pierre Viala, all of the celebrated 

 National Schoorof Agriculture of Montpellier.* Of 

 Vitis Riparia three forms will be figured and minutely 

 described. 



Dr. Despetis, who made the Riparia a special study , 

 says that he knows 380 varieties or subvarieties of 

 Riparia ; some are tomentous (downy-leaved), others 

 glabrous (smooth-leaved) ; some have light red wood, 

 others dark, and some even white (gray) wood. But 

 they all resist everywhere and succeed generally well ; 

 on limestone hills, however, they do not as well as the 

 Jacquez (JEstivalis). 



Many a grape-grower will ask : Of what practical 

 importance is it to know the botanic characteristics of 

 any species? The answer is, that it enables us to de- 

 termine to which species a cultivated variety belongs, 

 and to know thereby, beyond doubt, which qualities, 

 common to all descendants of such species, it will have ;. 

 what kind of soil or location is most suitable ; whether 

 it will easily grow from cuttings, be more or less 

 subject to certain diseases, be more or less hardy, etc. 

 The Vitis Riparia comprise the "most healthy and 

 hardy grapes of the North Central States (N. C. S.),. 

 formerly designated as the North-west, extending to 

 the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, Colorado and New 

 Mexico, and is found equally healthy and more pro- 

 ductive at the south, in Arkansas and Texas. Hence we 

 may also judge, from its geographical extension, as to 

 its rare adaptability to various climates. 



Alex. Hunger, an intelligent amateur grape-grower, 

 native of Switzerland, now at Sauk City, Wis., writes 

 us : "The woods and hills of Wisconsin are full of wild 

 vines, and they grow also along the streams and creeks- 

 The fruit of the Creek-grape (?) ripens late, tastes very 

 harsh and sour ; but the Sand-grape, (by which the 

 Riparia is evidently meant) ripens with us in August 

 already, is not disagreeable for eating, and makes a 

 wine of fine aroma. It grows often in almost pure 

 sand, and no cold can kill it. From the Sand-grape 

 the North-w r esjt must get the proper varieties for its 

 sandy plains and hills. If I were not too old I would 

 cross the Sand-grape with those European grapes 

 which grow in my native home (canton Graubunden), 

 on the boundary line of wine-culture, where 'with one 

 hand we may touch the glaciers and with the other 

 pluck the noble grape.' The bunches of the Sand- 

 grape are of the size of the Delaware; its foliage is simi- 



* The " Ecole nationale d' agriculture" at Montpellier has 

 not improperly been called the " Phylloxera University." 

 In its experimental garden, of about fifty acres, were 

 planted nearly all the various grape-vines of the world, 

 probably the most complete collection ever existing.. 

 And when we consider that its ground is thoroughly in- 

 fested by the Phylloxera, thus affording the opportun jty 

 to test and study all the species and their varieties, with 

 regard to their resistibility to the disease and in other 

 respects, under most eminent investigators, we may well 

 understand what a fund of information has been added 

 during the last decade concerning the subject of this- 

 Catalogue. 



